Electrical connector receptacles for receiving telecommunications data/voice line plugs are most commonly used to interconnect telephone lines. Such telecommunication jacks are used to connect telephone lines and telephones (transmitting voice signals) or telephone lines and computers (transmitting data and/or voice signals).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,497 describes a connector receptacle of a type which is intended for use in the telephone industry. This receptacle comprises an insulating housing having a plug-receiving end and a plug-receiving opening extending into the plug-receiving end. A plurality of circular openings extend through the housing from the plug-receiving end to the rearward end of the housing and contact springs extending from these circular openings diagonally into the plug-receiving opening so that when a plug is inserted into the receptacle, the contact members on the plug engage the contact springs. The contact springs are in the form of wires and are connected by means of crimped electrical connections to lead wires. These crimped connections are contained in the circular openings in the housing and the lead wires extend from the circular openings and away from the housing at the rearward end thereof. The most commonly used type of connector plug which is intended to be mated with connector receptacles of the type described above is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,320.
The connector receptacle described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,497 has been widely adopted in the telephone industry and other equipment such as data processing equipment which may be installed adjacent to a telephone exchange, personal computers, and similar equipment. The use of these connector receptacles in such related equipment often requires that the receptacle be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB), also referred to as a printed wiring board (PWB).
So that telecommunications receptacles can be easily and readily mounted on PCB's, the receptacle of U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,497 is modified to have formed electrical conductors rather than wire type conductors and one end of each formed conductor extends beyond the housing of the connector so that the connector can be mounted on a PCB with the ends of the conductors extending into openings, or through holes, in the PCB. These ends of the conductors can then be soldered to conductors on the PCB in the usual manner.
Space on PCB's of computer-related equipment, however, is always at a premium. It is, therefore, to provide a receptacle for receiving a telecommunications plug that can be mounted on a PCB and occupy the minimum required amount of space on the board.